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In 2016, then-citizen Donald Trump got very mad about how much then-President Barack Obama went golfing, claiming that he played more “than many members on the PGA Tour.” Obama played 300 rounds in eight years, which works out to about 3 rounds a month.
During Trump’s first term, The Washington Post‘s Philip Bump estimated that he played about 260 rounds, nearly matching Obama’s numbers in half the time. And he typically played at his own clubs, which means his private businesses made money off rooms required for the Secret Service, plus Trump’s travel and security cost a fortune.
Surely, someone who professes to be very concerned about government waste would change his own habits. Nope! He got worse.
It’s now been a full month of Trump 2.0 and Bump again did the math:
As of noon on Thursday, Trump will have been president for 31 full days. He will have spent all or part of 16 of those days at four Trump Organization properties. He will have played golf on 10 of those days. He will have spent 19 nights at the White House and 12 nights at properties owned by his private business. He will have spent precisely zero Friday or Saturday nights at the executive mansion. He will have played golf every weekend day except for this past Sunday, when he opted to take the presidential limousine for a spin at Daytona International Speedway instead.
A president playing golf on 10 out of 31 days is truly pathetic.
But, do you know who is working weekends? Shadow president Elon Musk and his little minions at the “Department” of Government Efficiency. Musk wrote online earlier this month that “very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!” He has even claimed to be sleeping in the DOGE headquarters in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. So While Trump spent his weekends whacking balls, Musk was working with a 19-year-old hacker who goes by Big Balls.
I must note that people do not like this arrangement! In a CNN poll, 54% of people said it was a bad thing that Musk has such a prominent role, with only 28% saying it was a good thing. The same poll had Trump’s approval rating at 47%, with 52% disapproving. (Multiple polls released this week have Trump under water.) A Washington Post survey found 49% disapprove of the way Musk is handling his job, with 34% saying they approve. These numbers are maybe why Trump and Musk have floated sending people checks with a portion of the “savings” from DOGE cuts. Economists believe such payments could cause inflation like the covid stimulus checks did.
Real business genius stuff. Can’t wait for eggs to cost $20 a dozen.
Trump-related barf:
- Speaking of Trump enriching himself: Since he won the election, “companies have directed about $80 million to members of the Trump family and the Trump presidential library.” Most of the money has come from Melania Trump‘s Amazon documentary deal and legal settlements. [Wall Street Journal]
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement is increasingly detaining people with no criminal conviction or pending criminal charges, including 41% of the 4,400 new detainees in the first two weeks of February. [NBC News]
- Employees at the Food and Drug Administration who were reviewing Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink, got fired by DOGE flunkies. [Reuters]
- The interim federal prosecutor in Washington D.C., Ed Martin, said he plans to prosecute threats against public officials, but so far he’s been looking into what are merely critical statements of Elon Musk and DOGE. [Washington Post]
- A maker of Canadian flags says sales have doubled since Trump threatened tariffs and mused about the country becoming the 51st U.S. state. [Fortune]
Non-Trump barf:
- Steve Bannon did what appeared to be a Nazi salute during a speech at CPAC. (Yes, the same gathering where Musk wielded a chainsaw gifted to him by far-right Argentinian President, Javier Milei.) [The Forward]
- Fox host Jesse Watters bragged on-air about the vast right-wing propaganda apparatus: “Someone says something on social media, Musk retweets it, [Joe] Rogan podcasts it, Fox broadcasts it.. and by the time it reaches everybody, millions of people have seen it.” [Mediaite]
- Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has lost even more staff due to his focus on Israel. [The Intercept]
- Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) supports firing Pentagon workers so much that he invented a new shape. [Bluesky]
- During a discussion about ICE, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) questioned the citizenship status of a Westchester County official, who is Latino. [NBC News]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!
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